Bell’s Christmas Trees

A lot of eminent historians and archaeologists insist that Plato invented Atlantis completely, but the explanation that the most important philosopher of all time would just make up this elaborate story about a sunken city and stick

AFTER FANBOYING OUT OVER HIS BOOKS AND TAKING A FEW SELFIES INTERVIEW:

I grew up outside of Chicago and studied English in college. I went off to grad school thinking I was going to be an English professor, but after getting my master’s, I took a year off and tended bar. One night a friend of mine said she’d met the managing editor of Outside magazine and that she thought I should apply for their internship program. Working for a magazine had never really occurred to me; it seemed like something people did in the movies.

In 2009, I was working as an editor at National Geographic Adventure magazine and realized I was seeing pictures of Machu Picchu everywhere—on the cover of the magazine, in the office hallways, in the materials we sent out to potential advertisers. At that time Machu Picchu had roughly the same status for travel magazines as pre-scandal Tiger Woods did for Golf Digest. You could put it on the cover again and again and again and people didn’t care. They’d buy it every time because it was on their wish list.

Another important thing to remember is that Plato was writing about Atlantis when written history was a new technology. For more than 2,000 years everyone assumed that The Odyssey and The Iliad were made up stories, but now many experts believe that they were based on real events. So the question is, how much of the Atlantis story that Plato tells did he intend to be fictional and how much of it did he intend to be taken at face value?

He may be telling stories for purposes we don’t fully understand. The Atlantis story, at least the first part, comes at the beginning of the work called Timaeus, which is Plato’s attempt to explain the nature of the cosmos, to explain how the universe worked, arguably the most important topic that could possibly be discussed. A lot of eminent historians and archaeologists insist that Plato invented Atlantis completely, but the explanation that the most important philosopher of all time would just make up this elaborate story about a sunken city and stick it at the beginning of what may have been his most ambitious work strikes me, at the very least, as a little weird.

Since people can’t go to Atlantis like they can Machu Picchu, this book is much less a travel book than the other. What do you want people to take away from this story?

Well, that raises the question of what a travel book is. Hemingway’s novels in Spain? In Patagonia? A Rick Steves book? The Viking Cruises catalog? The thing I always tell people when they ask me how I became a travel writer is that I never became a travel writer—I just became a writer, or to use a term that is overused these days, a storyteller. Everything I write is a nonfiction story with plot development and characters that change in some way during the events conveyed; many of those stories just happen to take place in interesting locales.

WHAT ARE YOUR THREE PIECES OF ADVICE

My grandmother was very into Atlantis, Ancient Aliens, crystal skulls, and the like so when I was younger she would always talk about them with me. Having grown up with an intense fascination with this stuff, I found the science and research behind proving/disproving the myth fascinating (my take: I think Atlantis existed as an advanced society by contemporary standards in Spain). Mark is a captivating writer and both his books were delights to read. Next year, I’m heading to Peru and plan to visit some of the off the beaten path Inca sites mentioned in his book. Time to put on my own Indiana Jones hat!

  • Put your phone down
  • Portrait Studio and using
  • Will be impressed
  • You travel, and if you
  • Opportunity to explore

He may be telling stories for purposes we don’t fully understand. The Atlantis story, at least the first part, comes at the beginning of the work called Timaeus, which is Plato’s attempt to explain the nature of the cosmos, to explain how the universe worked, arguably the most important topic that could possibly be discussed.

WHAT ARE YOUR THREE PIECES OF ADVICE

A lot of eminent historians and archaeologists insist that Plato invented Atlantis completely, but the explanation that the most important philosopher of all time would just make up this elaborate story about a sunken city and stick it at the beginning of what may have been his most ambitious work strikes me, at the very least, as a little weird. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, lacus eu erat integer bibendum rutrum, sed arcu molestie, in quis ornare, rhoncus sceleris nam feugiat nibh leo. Ac suspendisse turpis posuere, cursus fames eu eget dolorem sapien. Eget cras urna nam, ultricies proin interdum facilisis arcu, eget sed quam enim nam, sit pede nonummy viverra dolor sed orci, nec feugiat donec phasellus

Lommodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis que penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes lorem, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla onsequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo fringilla vel aliquet nec vulputate eget. Lorem ispum dolore siamet ipsum dolor. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumquer nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere. At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus quilor.

Black chocolate soufflé

So many of you have sent me requests and reservations for the little restaurant we are opening in August. It’s all coming together now and in a few days I will set up a special email where you can submit reservations.

I’ve had this dream for a while, to open a little bistrot. 5 years ago we moved to Médoc and since then this idea has been brewing steadily, produce has been sourced, inspected, sampled. “Is this saucisson better than the other saucisson, is this wine as good as that other one?” How sweet should the tomatoes be, how crunchy the bread? We don’t have all the answers but we have come far and now it’s time to share.

LEARNING HOW TO COOK

You may recall a post on this blog from last December where I visited Château Ducru Beaucaillou and cooked with the owner Mr. Bruno Borie. That was part one, now it was my turn to impress, to match Bruno’s very impressive New Year’s eve menu. You may also recall that I mentioned Bruno’s belief (and mine) that good food and wine can not easily or perhaps not at all exist without each other. Grilled, juicy meat and … water, I don’t think so. Sole Meunière, drenched in sizzling butter and … water, a crime. Oysters and water, worst of all. When I have Chinese food I like to drink tea or even beer. When I have French or Italian food, wine it is.

Of course I am exaggerating slightly, in fact I very often skip wine at lunch. One must not be too excessive. Good food can be enjoyed on it’s own but the point I am trying to make is that it is almost always improved by the presence of good wine.

DO YOU WANT TO GET A PRESCRIPTION

This makes sense, not only from a gastronomical point of view but also a cultural one. Blanquette de veau and red wine grew up together. When the first ever blanquette was made, the person cooking it knew it would be paired with a simple but satisfying red. Consciously or unconsciously he or she had that in mind when they cooked it. Yellow wine from the Jura region has a special relationship with Comté cheese which is also from Jura. Throw in some fresh walnuts and sparks fly. Or a cold Guinness with Welsh rarebit in an English pub on a chilly autumn day (throw in a steak and kidney pie and even a bag of crisps).

  • 280g buckwheat flour
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 3 tsp organic tartar baking powder
  • 2 tsp cinnamon

Proin gravida nibh vel velit auctor aliquet. Aenean sollicitudin, lorem quis bibendum auctor, nisi elit consequat ipsum, nec sagittis sem nibh id elit. Duis sed odio sit amet nibh vulputate cursus a sit amet mauris. Morbi accumsan ipsum velit. Nam nec tellus a odio tincidunt auctor a ornare odio. Sed non mauris vitae erat auctor eu in elit.

until tender – about 30-45min (turn oven to 100degrees celsius). scrape out pumpkin flesh and blenderize with a bit milk to get a nice purée. melt butter and let cool for a few minutes. whisk pumpkin purée, milk and egg (with beaters of a hand mixer or kitchen machine). blend dry ingredients (flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon) and stir into pumpkin-egg-milk-mixture just until combined (use a cooking spoon or silicone spatula). heat a pan with coconut oil and brown pancakes from both sides (you can use an ice cream scoop – right amount of batter and easy to shape the pancakes), then place in the oven (on tinfoil) until all pancakes are done. serve pancakes with roughly chopped hazelnuts, coconut yoghurt, fig slices, berries and maple syrup.

Theory of relativity

So many of you have sent me requests and reservations for the little restaurant we are opening in August. It’s all coming together now and in a few days I will set up a special email where you can submit reservations.

I’ve had this dream for a while, to open a little bistrot. 5 years ago we moved to Médoc and since then this idea has been brewing steadily, produce has been sourced, inspected, sampled. “Is this saucisson better than the other saucisson, is this wine as good as that other one?” How sweet should the tomatoes be, how crunchy the bread? We don’t have all the answers but we have come far and now it’s time to share.

LEARNING HOW TO COOK

You may recall a post on this blog from last December where I visited Château Ducru Beaucaillou and cooked with the owner Mr. Bruno Borie. That was part one, now it was my turn to impress, to match Bruno’s very impressive New Year’s eve menu. You may also recall that I mentioned Bruno’s belief (and mine) that good food and wine can not easily or perhaps not at all exist without each other. Grilled, juicy meat and … water, I don’t think so. Sole Meunière, drenched in sizzling butter and … water, a crime. Oysters and water, worst of all. When I have Chinese food I like to drink tea or even beer. When I have French or Italian food, wine it is.

Of course I am exaggerating slightly, in fact I very often skip wine at lunch. One must not be too excessive. Good food can be enjoyed on it’s own but the point I am trying to make is that it is almost always improved by the presence of good wine.

DO YOU WANT TO GET A PRESCRIPTION

This makes sense, not only from a gastronomical point of view but also a cultural one. Blanquette de veau and red wine grew up together. When the first ever blanquette was made, the person cooking it knew it would be paired with a simple but satisfying red. Consciously or unconsciously he or she had that in mind when they cooked it. Yellow wine from the Jura region has a special relationship with Comté cheese which is also from Jura. Throw in some fresh walnuts and sparks fly. Or a cold Guinness with Welsh rarebit in an English pub on a chilly autumn day (throw in a steak and kidney pie and even a bag of crisps).

  • 280g buckwheat flour
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 3 tsp organic tartar baking powder
  • 2 tsp cinnamon

Proin gravida nibh vel velit auctor aliquet. Aenean sollicitudin, lorem quis bibendum auctor, nisi elit consequat ipsum, nec sagittis sem nibh id elit. Duis sed odio sit amet nibh vulputate cursus a sit amet mauris. Morbi accumsan ipsum velit. Nam nec tellus a odio tincidunt auctor a ornare odio. Sed non mauris vitae erat auctor eu in elit.

until tender – about 30-45min (turn oven to 100degrees celsius). scrape out pumpkin flesh and blenderize with a bit milk to get a nice purée. melt butter and let cool for a few minutes. whisk pumpkin purée, milk and egg (with beaters of a hand mixer or kitchen machine). blend dry ingredients (flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon) and stir into pumpkin-egg-milk-mixture just until combined (use a cooking spoon or silicone spatula). heat a pan with coconut oil and brown pancakes from both sides (you can use an ice cream scoop – right amount of batter and easy to shape the pancakes), then place in the oven (on tinfoil) until all pancakes are done. serve pancakes with roughly chopped hazelnuts, coconut yoghurt, fig slices, berries and maple syrup.

Buried Underworld

So many of you have sent me requests and reservations for the little restaurant we are opening in August. It’s all coming together now and in a few days I will set up a special email where you can submit reservations.

I’ve had this dream for a while, to open a little bistrot. 5 years ago we moved to Médoc and since then this idea has been brewing steadily, produce has been sourced, inspected, sampled. “Is this saucisson better than the other saucisson, is this wine as good as that other one?” How sweet should the tomatoes be, how crunchy the bread? We don’t have all the answers but we have come far and now it’s time to share.

LEARNING HOW TO COOK

You may recall a post on this blog from last December where I visited Château Ducru Beaucaillou and cooked with the owner Mr. Bruno Borie. That was part one, now it was my turn to impress, to match Bruno’s very impressive New Year’s eve menu. You may also recall that I mentioned Bruno’s belief (and mine) that good food and wine can not easily or perhaps not at all exist without each other. Grilled, juicy meat and … water, I don’t think so. Sole Meunière, drenched in sizzling butter and … water, a crime. Oysters and water, worst of all. When I have Chinese food I like to drink tea or even beer. When I have French or Italian food, wine it is.

Of course I am exaggerating slightly, in fact I very often skip wine at lunch. One must not be too excessive. Good food can be enjoyed on it’s own but the point I am trying to make is that it is almost always improved by the presence of good wine.

DO YOU WANT TO GET A PRESCRIPTION

This makes sense, not only from a gastronomical point of view but also a cultural one. Blanquette de veau and red wine grew up together. When the first ever blanquette was made, the person cooking it knew it would be paired with a simple but satisfying red. Consciously or unconsciously he or she had that in mind when they cooked it. Yellow wine from the Jura region has a special relationship with Comté cheese which is also from Jura. Throw in some fresh walnuts and sparks fly. Or a cold Guinness with Welsh rarebit in an English pub on a chilly autumn day (throw in a steak and kidney pie and even a bag of crisps).

  • 280g buckwheat flour
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 3 tsp organic tartar baking powder
  • 2 tsp cinnamon

Proin gravida nibh vel velit auctor aliquet. Aenean sollicitudin, lorem quis bibendum auctor, nisi elit consequat ipsum, nec sagittis sem nibh id elit. Duis sed odio sit amet nibh vulputate cursus a sit amet mauris. Morbi accumsan ipsum velit. Nam nec tellus a odio tincidunt auctor a ornare odio. Sed non mauris vitae erat auctor eu in elit.

until tender – about 30-45min (turn oven to 100degrees celsius). scrape out pumpkin flesh and blenderize with a bit milk to get a nice purée. melt butter and let cool for a few minutes. whisk pumpkin purée, milk and egg (with beaters of a hand mixer or kitchen machine). blend dry ingredients (flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon) and stir into pumpkin-egg-milk-mixture just until combined (use a cooking spoon or silicone spatula). heat a pan with coconut oil and brown pancakes from both sides (you can use an ice cream scoop – right amount of batter and easy to shape the pancakes), then place in the oven (on tinfoil) until all pancakes are done. serve pancakes with roughly chopped hazelnuts, coconut yoghurt, fig slices, berries and maple syrup.

Yes August came

So many of you have sent me requests and reservations for the little restaurant we are opening in August. It’s all coming together now and in a few days I will set up a special email where you can submit reservations.

I’ve had this dream for a while, to open a little bistrot. 5 years ago we moved to Médoc and since then this idea has been brewing steadily, produce has been sourced, inspected, sampled. “Is this saucisson better than the other saucisson, is this wine as good as that other one?” How sweet should the tomatoes be, how crunchy the bread? We don’t have all the answers but we have come far and now it’s time to share.

LEARNING HOW TO COOK

You may recall a post on this blog from last December where I visited Château Ducru Beaucaillou and cooked with the owner Mr. Bruno Borie. That was part one, now it was my turn to impress, to match Bruno’s very impressive New Year’s eve menu. You may also recall that I mentioned Bruno’s belief (and mine) that good food and wine can not easily or perhaps not at all exist without each other. Grilled, juicy meat and … water, I don’t think so. Sole Meunière, drenched in sizzling butter and … water, a crime. Oysters and water, worst of all. When I have Chinese food I like to drink tea or even beer. When I have French or Italian food, wine it is.

Of course I am exaggerating slightly, in fact I very often skip wine at lunch. One must not be too excessive. Good food can be enjoyed on it’s own but the point I am trying to make is that it is almost always improved by the presence of good wine.

DO YOU WANT TO GET A PRESCRIPTION

This makes sense, not only from a gastronomical point of view but also a cultural one. Blanquette de veau and red wine grew up together. When the first ever blanquette was made, the person cooking it knew it would be paired with a simple but satisfying red. Consciously or unconsciously he or she had that in mind when they cooked it. Yellow wine from the Jura region has a special relationship with Comté cheese which is also from Jura. Throw in some fresh walnuts and sparks fly. Or a cold Guinness with Welsh rarebit in an English pub on a chilly autumn day (throw in a steak and kidney pie and even a bag of crisps).

  • 280g buckwheat flour
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 3 tsp organic tartar baking powder
  • 2 tsp cinnamon

Proin gravida nibh vel velit auctor aliquet. Aenean sollicitudin, lorem quis bibendum auctor, nisi elit consequat ipsum, nec sagittis sem nibh id elit. Duis sed odio sit amet nibh vulputate cursus a sit amet mauris. Morbi accumsan ipsum velit. Nam nec tellus a odio tincidunt auctor a ornare odio. Sed non mauris vitae erat auctor eu in elit.

until tender – about 30-45min (turn oven to 100degrees celsius). scrape out pumpkin flesh and blenderize with a bit milk to get a nice purée. melt butter and let cool for a few minutes. whisk pumpkin purée, milk and egg (with beaters of a hand mixer or kitchen machine). blend dry ingredients (flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon) and stir into pumpkin-egg-milk-mixture just until combined (use a cooking spoon or silicone spatula). heat a pan with coconut oil and brown pancakes from both sides (you can use an ice cream scoop – right amount of batter and easy to shape the pancakes), then place in the oven (on tinfoil) until all pancakes are done. serve pancakes with roughly chopped hazelnuts, coconut yoghurt, fig slices, berries and maple syrup.

Famous people

Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis. Rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi. Benean ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur ut adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incidi ut labore et dolore magna aliqua ip. At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium volupta deleniti quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non est laborum.Temporibus autem quibusdam et aut officiis debitis aut rerum necessitat saepe ev. Nulla faucibus eu elit quis efficitur. Mauris tincidunt ligula sed elit tristique euismod quis.

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At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum et dolorum fuga. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio nam.

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  • Posuere cubilia cras blandit porttitor arcu volutpat a. Integer iaculis erat nec.
  • Vel tempus sapien. Vivamus aliquam euismod tristique aenean eget.

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